Search for: All records

The dissociation of tissue and cell aggregates into single cells is of high interest for single cell analysis studies, primary cultures, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. However, current methods are slow, poorly controlled, variable, and can introduce artifacts. We previously developed a microfluidic device that contains two separate dissociation modules, a branching channel array and nylon mesh filters, which was used as a polishing step after tissue processing with a microfluidic digestion device. Here, we employed the integrated disaggregation and filtration (IDF) device as a standalone method with both cell aggregates and traditionally digested tissue to perform a well-controlled and detailed study into the effect of mechanical forces on dissociation, including modulation of flow rate, device pass number, and even the mechanism. Using a strongly cohesive cell aggregate model, we found that single cell recovery was highest using flow rates exceeding 40 ml/min and multiple passes through the filter module, either with or without the channel module. For minced and digested kidney tissue, recovery of diverse cell types was maximal using multiple passes through the channel module and only a single pass through the filter module. Notably, we found that epithelial cell recovery from the optimized IDF device alone exceeded our previous efforts, and this result was maintained after reducing digestion time to 20 min. However, endothelial cells and leukocytes still required extended digestion time for maximal recover. These findings highlight the significance of parameter optimization to achieve the highest cell yield and viability based on tissue sample size, extracellular matrix content, and strength of cell-cell interactions. 

Tissues are complex mixtures of different cell subtypes, and this diversity is increasingly characterized using high-throughput single cell analysis methods. However, these efforts are hindered, as tissues must first be dissociated into single cell suspensions using methods that are often inefficient, labor-intensive, highly variable, and potentially biased towards certain cell subtypes. Here, we present a microfluidic platform consisting of three tissue processing technologies that combine tissue digestion, disaggregation, and filtration. The platform is evaluated using a diverse array of tissues. For kidney and mammary tumor, microfluidic processing produces 2.5-fold more single cells. Single cell RNA sequencing further reveals that endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and basal epithelium are enriched without affecting stress response. For liver and heart, processing time is dramatically reduced. We also demonstrate that recovery of cells from the system at periodic intervals during processing increases hepatocyte and cardiomyocyte numbers, as well as increases reproducibility from batch-to-batch for all tissues.

 

Tissues are highly complex ecosystems of different cell types. To capture this heterogeneity, high throughput single cell analysis methods are increasingly being employed. These methods, however, require that tissues first be dissociated into cellular suspensions, and this process represents a bottleneck hindering these efforts. Conventional protocols are inefficient, relying on manual, time-consuming, and variable steps. Advances in microfabricated technologies, however, hold exciting potential to carry out these procedures on-chip in a high throughput, repeatable, and automated fashion. Here, we present a microfluidic platform consisting of 3 different tissue-processing technologies that significantly improves the breakdown of diverse tissue types into high quality cell suspensions that are ready for downstream single cell analysis.